Monday, December 19, 2016
Enjoying Phoenix with Taylor
One thing neither Gary nor I have mentioned is our biggest reason for hitting AZ first on our travels. Our daughter, Taylor is a senior here at Arizona State in Tempe. It has been a lot of fun to finally live where she goes to school. No, she does not bring her laundry home for me to wash ;) but it is nice for all 3 of us when she comes home to eat dinner or just hang out. She has also shown us some fun things to do here (like drink a bucket of alcohol at a local favorite ASU bar) and just recently after attending a Kings of Leon (!) concert, she and I took a road trip to the LA area to go to Disneyland (loved Cars Land) and Universal Studios (we are huge Harry Potter fans). One more benefit of being in a rolling home, your surrounding area to explore can include some very cool and and fun things.
Enjoy Christmas from your RV
Merry Christmas week!!! :)
It is a wonderful and warm 72 degrees just 6 days before Christmas and I can't tell you how thankful I am to be in the South! I think we are ready for the holiday (Gary and Taylor are out shopping for my Christmas presents as we speak) and hope you are as well.
I just wanted to take a minute and encourage all of you soon to be RVers or if you are thinking of taking the leap to a house on wheels to remember that your RV is indeed your home. It should be treated as such. This time of year that means to decorate it for Christmas!! Yay!! I went to our local Walmart and Target stores and outfitted the coach for under $100. Small house means less decorations but still fun to do.
It is a wonderful and warm 72 degrees just 6 days before Christmas and I can't tell you how thankful I am to be in the South! I think we are ready for the holiday (Gary and Taylor are out shopping for my Christmas presents as we speak) and hope you are as well.
I just wanted to take a minute and encourage all of you soon to be RVers or if you are thinking of taking the leap to a house on wheels to remember that your RV is indeed your home. It should be treated as such. This time of year that means to decorate it for Christmas!! Yay!! I went to our local Walmart and Target stores and outfitted the coach for under $100. Small house means less decorations but still fun to do.
Each holiday will bring new opportunities for new and fun decorations so get out there and carry on what you did in your sticks and bricks home. :)
Monday, December 12, 2016
Mesa and Phoenix during Christmas
Merry Christmas Season!
It seems everyone is busy this time of year and we are no different. We have decided to take advantage of things that the Phoenix area has to offer, including the beautiful weather and 70 degree days. :) In addition to going to the pool, we have climbed a couple of hills and attended 2 Christmas light shows just to get us in the mood.
Our first little hill climb (and you can't even really call it a climb was to "Hole in the Rock" which is just what it sounds like. Its history is one of time telling. Historians think Indians used it to tell both daily time and monthly as well. It is right outside of downtown Phoenix and next door to the Phoenix Zoo and the Phoenix Botanical Gardens.
After we walked up to "Hole in the Rock", we took in Zoo Lights which is a Christmas light show at the zoo. They rope off the front part of the zoo around a pond/lake and decorate every tree with lights and also put up animal sculptures that are all done up in lights as well. Gorgeous! They also do a small music and light show every 15 minutes so we took in 2 different shows while we were there. They also have yummy food and fun treats like hot cocoa and spiced up coffee. Gary and I sort of giggled as we walked by many Phoenixians all bundled up against the "cold" since it was 63 degrees and Gary was wearing shorts. :)
A few days after Zoo Lights we did a true climb. It is called Piestewa and it's a little over a mile but you spend almost the entire time going vertical. It took us about 40 minutes to get up and about 30 to get down. It was a wonderful 73 degrees so you just can't ask for better weather. While at the summit you can take in the entire Phoenix valley. It really is a beautiful sight and well worth the climb.
Wanting to take in more Christmas lights we decided to attend the boat parade at Tempe Beach Park. There were about 30 boats all decorated with lights and they actually motor down the river, stop in front of the crowd and turn a little to the right and left so you can get a great view of the boat. Our favorite was a boat with the theme of "Finding Dory" complete with Dory and her friend the octopus named Hank. What a fun way to celebrate the Christmas season! It is such a novel concept to be able to do all of these fun things outside in December!! Being from a cold weather state that has a true winter, I am used to bundling up with layer upon layer and still freezing. It's very refreshing to head out in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I just cannot be grateful enough!
It seems everyone is busy this time of year and we are no different. We have decided to take advantage of things that the Phoenix area has to offer, including the beautiful weather and 70 degree days. :) In addition to going to the pool, we have climbed a couple of hills and attended 2 Christmas light shows just to get us in the mood.
Our first little hill climb (and you can't even really call it a climb was to "Hole in the Rock" which is just what it sounds like. Its history is one of time telling. Historians think Indians used it to tell both daily time and monthly as well. It is right outside of downtown Phoenix and next door to the Phoenix Zoo and the Phoenix Botanical Gardens.
After we walked up to "Hole in the Rock", we took in Zoo Lights which is a Christmas light show at the zoo. They rope off the front part of the zoo around a pond/lake and decorate every tree with lights and also put up animal sculptures that are all done up in lights as well. Gorgeous! They also do a small music and light show every 15 minutes so we took in 2 different shows while we were there. They also have yummy food and fun treats like hot cocoa and spiced up coffee. Gary and I sort of giggled as we walked by many Phoenixians all bundled up against the "cold" since it was 63 degrees and Gary was wearing shorts. :)
A few days after Zoo Lights we did a true climb. It is called Piestewa and it's a little over a mile but you spend almost the entire time going vertical. It took us about 40 minutes to get up and about 30 to get down. It was a wonderful 73 degrees so you just can't ask for better weather. While at the summit you can take in the entire Phoenix valley. It really is a beautiful sight and well worth the climb.
Wanting to take in more Christmas lights we decided to attend the boat parade at Tempe Beach Park. There were about 30 boats all decorated with lights and they actually motor down the river, stop in front of the crowd and turn a little to the right and left so you can get a great view of the boat. Our favorite was a boat with the theme of "Finding Dory" complete with Dory and her friend the octopus named Hank. What a fun way to celebrate the Christmas season! It is such a novel concept to be able to do all of these fun things outside in December!! Being from a cold weather state that has a true winter, I am used to bundling up with layer upon layer and still freezing. It's very refreshing to head out in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I just cannot be grateful enough!
Monday, December 5, 2016
RV repairs when full timing
Getting repairs done on your RV is a different ball game compared to getting work done on your brick and sticks home. We had our first set of warranty work done since we went full time and wanted to share that experience.
We have been having an issue with one of our leveling jacks losing hydraulic pressure. We scheduled an appointment with the local Camping World here in Mesa for them to take a look at it. As we were packing up the RV this morning, it was a very strange feeling, almost surreal. That strange feeling grew as we dropped it off and drove away. I realized that we had dropped our home and all of our belonging off at the shop. That was the cause of the strange feelings, which ended up just being worry and stress.
If you go RVing for any length of time, be mentally prepared to drop your home and belongings off to a set of strangers at the shop.
Our short story on this topic had a happy ending. We picked up the RV the same evening, they had found the problematic part and recalibrated the system. We are so far keeping the coach level and the hydraulic solenoid is on order.
We have been having an issue with one of our leveling jacks losing hydraulic pressure. We scheduled an appointment with the local Camping World here in Mesa for them to take a look at it. As we were packing up the RV this morning, it was a very strange feeling, almost surreal. That strange feeling grew as we dropped it off and drove away. I realized that we had dropped our home and all of our belonging off at the shop. That was the cause of the strange feelings, which ended up just being worry and stress.
If you go RVing for any length of time, be mentally prepared to drop your home and belongings off to a set of strangers at the shop.
Our short story on this topic had a happy ending. We picked up the RV the same evening, they had found the problematic part and recalibrated the system. We are so far keeping the coach level and the hydraulic solenoid is on order.
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